Urban Institute says SNAP recipients in 21% of counties still can't buy 3 modest meals a day, even with bigger benefit

Gap between SNAP benefit and meal cost in 2020 compared to after Oct. 1, 2021; blue indicates a shortfall.
Urban Institute map; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version

On Oct. 1, the Biden administration implemented the largest-ever permanent increase in benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, raising the average per-person benefit by $36 a month. But a paper by the Urban Institute says many hungry Americans still can't afford a modest meal, and rural residents—who disproportionately rely on the program—tend to see some of the biggest gaps between how much money their benefits are worth and how much they need to afford to reliably eat. 

Before the boost, residents in 96 percent of U.S. counties couldn't afford to eat three modestly priced meals a day. After the boost, that was still true of 21% of counties, leaving them in the "SNAP gap," the report says. That's more likely for urbanites, but "some of the largest gaps in benefit adequacy persist in rural areas," the report says. "In fact, after the 21% increase in maximum SNAP benefits, four of the top five counties with the largest percent gap in benefits are nonmetropolitan."